Låt den rätte komma in (Let The Right One In)

[mpox]

I saw this recently and if you can deal with some gore and violence then not only is this a really good movie but there's a bit of relevance to FÅ. It's a new movie and the sort of film where you really should see it fresh so please do that if at all possible so I'll "spoiler" my comments. If you want to read anyway or have already seen it just select the text of the message like you would for copy/paste and it should show up.

A few times in the movie Eli tells Oskar that she's not a girl, or asks what he'd do if she wasn't a girl. The point is ambiguous because she's a vampire, but I was reading a bit about the movie and it turns out the character is meant to be a castrated boy.

So here we have an answer, maybe, to the oft posed question people have asked about whether we'd like a film like FÅ if the relationship were between two boys instead of two girls. It's not quite as cut & dry as that since the part of Eli is played by a girl, but since the story is about two kids (age 12, more or less) their relationship is mostly platonic and the story is the same it should give you some idea of how you'd feel.

That's about the extent of the relevance. You could find points of comparison if you looked but I'm not sure they're anything more than coincidence. The conversations the two characters have (shy, tentative, Swedish) did remind me a bit of FÅ though.

OK, end of spoilered comments. I'd be interested in hearing what others thought in general and on the point of FÅ relevancy that I mention in the hidden text. Since it's a hassle to do spoilers on this board just consider everything after this post - should there be anything - to spoil the movie for you.

[kant1781]

Where and how did you manage to see this, mpox?

[mpox]

Where and how did you manage to see this, mpox?

It was at a limited engagement type screening in the lead-up to Halloween. It's been on the festival circuit for a while but IMDB shows it's been sent to wider release as of October 24th so it should be coming to arty theaters soon. In Sweden maybe it'll play to a wider audience since it's not subbed.

Here's the trailer which shows the two characters but is otherwise just a bit of a scene rather than a proper trailer.

http://www.apple.com/trailers/magnolia/ ... ightonein/

here's more of a normal trailer, it's a much less frantic film than you'd get from it though:

http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/10/15/let ... e-trailer/

[Ian]

It's got great reviews, and the trailer on YT made me very interested. Lord knows if and when aussieland'll see it, though (it took over 2 years for them to get FA over here ).

It's out on dvd in the states in March, though. I'll probably end up importing it!

[Gennis]

Just seen the trailer... looks weird and i like weird movies, so i'm gonna check this one out:D
It gets a nice score in IMDB as well

[bruno]

Ok, I managed to put my comment on the other topic

http://showmelove.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7966#7966

[bruno]

As for the FÅ relevancy, I agree with Mpox in the original post in this thread. The vampire is not a girl but it's like he is one after all when you watch this film (sorry for the grammar horror, I hope you understand me).

This means, I love the film but I find no real relationship with FÅ and no use for understanding FÅ better.

[Ian]

Just seen the trailer... looks weird and i like weird movies, so i'm gonna check this one out:D

LOL Me too. Then again, anything different from the mediocre norm tends to catch my attention.

[mpox]

As for the FÅ relevancy, I agree with Mpox in the original post in this thread. The vampire is not a girl but it's like he is one after all when you watch this film (sorry for the grammar horror, I hope you understand me).

This means, I love the film but I find no real relationship with FÅ and no use for understanding FÅ better.

The relationship isn't really with the films but in a lot of comments about FÅ people talked about how they liked it but didn't know if they could watch a film like that between two boys. LTROI presents that, though you don't know about it until the close to the end of the movie.

I didn't read the book but the old guy was Eli's companion in the movie, he collected blood for her because apparently she didn't like to do it herself (using her as the pronoun because that's obviously what Eli consider's herself). At the end we don't know whether Eli is manipulative or not, you could read it that way for sure - Oskar is just her replacement for the old guy - but she seemed to gravitate towards Oskar before the old guy dies. Is it because she knows the old guy is living on borrowed time, or is it something else. One of the things I liked was that they left things up in the air and didn't try to wrap everything up in a neat little bundle.

[fraks]

The relationship isn't really with the films but in a lot of comments about FÅ people talked about how they liked it but didn't know if they could watch a film like that between two boys.

Such film there is.

Sebastian.

[bruno]

The relationship isn't really with the films but in a lot of comments about FÅ people talked about how they liked it but didn't know if they could watch a film like that between two boys. LTROI presents that, though you don't know about it until the close to the end of the movie.

I was not clear maybe, but I intended "relevancy" in that subject too. IMO LTROI does not particularly help to understand this aspect.

Letting LTROI aside, I think FÅ would not be the same thing without the beautiful girls. But I'm not beyond appreciating a gay "coming out" story, if well done.

[mpox]

I was not clear maybe, but I intended "relevancy" in that subject too. IMO LTROI does not particularly help to understand this aspect.

I guess if you miss or don't understand the scene where Oskar spies on Eli dressing (it happens late in the movie and it's just a split second glimpse) you might not understand, and the actor is clearly a girl, but the meaning is the same - this is a story about two people that were born male. I think it's interesting because of the way you're introduced to the characters your prejudices (if any) aren't really allowed to play a role in the opinion you form of the relationship.

Letting LTROI aside, I think FÅ would not be the same thing without the beautiful girls. But I'm not beyond appreciating a gay "coming out" story, if well done.

I wouldn't go out of my way to watch a coming out story (of either sex) but if the story was otherwise compelling I wouldn't be bothered by the relationship either.

To your other point, for sure the element of attraction plays a role and I think everyone is probably more interested in stories that they can relate to in some way. If FÅ were about two ugly (or butch or...) girls, or two older women then it wouldn't have gotten as much attention and we wouldn't be here now.

[bruno]

I guess if you miss or don't understand the scene where Oskar spies on Eli dressing (it happens late in the movie and it's just a split second glimpse)

Oh yes I've seen the scene, Oskar see's she's a eunuch, a castrated male. But first, there's no real sexuality between Oskar and Eli, second, even with the revealing (and maybe shocking) scene, this fact is so underplayed in the movie that IMO has not great meaning, it's like a thing that was in the book and the director crammed in the film without really exploring it.
I don't feel LTROI a film about young (male and gay) love. I see Oskar and Eli like two outsiders forming a strange partnership, having just each other accepting and understanding them; it could be a strong friendship more than "love".

[mpox]

I don't feel LTROI a film about young (male and gay) love. I see Oskar and Eli like two outsiders forming a strange partnership, having just each other accepting and understanding them; it could be a strong friendship more than "love".

Well there's no sex of course, but there's clearly a romantic interest in Eli from Oskar. The most blatant example is when Eli comes into Oskar's room at night from the hospital and crawls into bed with him he asks if she'd be his girlfriend.

To me it seemed like when this sort of situation would come up (it happened more than once) Eli was more concerned about rejection from Oskar, though who knows the motivation. Was the relationship from Eli's perspective convenience, friendship or something more? We can guess Oskar's thought process, Eli is more complicated.

[Ian]

Have pre-ordered the dvd of this from the US (out next month). Not sure when it's supposed to be coming out in oz, but I'm not waiting 3 years for it like I had to with FA!